google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday July 7, 2020 Evan Kalish

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Jul 7, 2020

Tuesday July 7, 2020 Evan Kalish

Off to the Races:  The word Gate can be placed at the "Start" of the first word of each theme answer to give us a new concept.

19-Across. Outdoor security illumination: FLOOD LIGHTING.  Flood Gates.  Everything you wanted to know about the Flood Gates of New Orleans, but didn't know to ask.


30-Across. Teeth: PEARLY WHITES.  Pearly Gates.

40-Across. First ten U.S. constitutional amendments: BILL OF RIGHTS.  Bill Gates.

William Henry Gates, III (b. Oct. 28, 1955)

And the Unifier:
55-Across. Where horse races begin ... and where the beginning of 19-, 30- and 40-Across might be seen: STARTING GATES.



WARNING:  There is a bad word at the very end of this very funny Video.


Across:
1. Baroque composer of many fugues: BACH.  Remove the "C" and you get 1-Down: Scroogean scoff: BAH!  

The Bach family was very musical, but probably the best known is Johann Sebastian Bach (Mar. 31, 1685 ~ July 28, 1750).  The "forgotten son" of the family was P.D.Q. Bach.



5. "__ did you say?": WHAT.

9. Pageant adornment: SASH.

13. Workout reminder: ACHE.

14. Team instructor: COACH.  Also the name of a company that makes high-end handbags.

15. Stage in an insect's life cycle: PUPA.  Some insects undergo 3 stages, others have a 4 stage life cycle.


16. Stiletto __: shoe part: HEEL.  High heels are really not all that comfortable.  Since the Quar, I have been either been going barefoot, in my gym shoes, or wearing flip-flops.  Not sure I ever want to go back to dress shoes.

17. Waze suggestion: ROUTE.


18. Chief Norse deity: ODIN.  A crossword staple.

22. Tennis toppers: VISORS.

24. Shucked shellfish: OYSTER.  Grilled oysters are a speciality in many restaurants in South Louisiana.

25. German cry: ACH!

26. Tummy muscles: ABs.  This is becoming a crossword staple.


28. Election night graphic: MAP.  Results from the 1900 Presidential election.  Looks like William McKinley (Jan. 29, 1843 ~ Sept. 14, 1901) beat William Jennings Bryan (Mar. 19, 1860 ~ July 26, 1925).


29. Sloppy room metaphor: STY.

34. Caesar's last gasp: ET TU.

35. Gut punch reaction: OOF!

36. __ na tigela: Brazilian berry dish in a bowl: AÇAI.  Açai berry has become a very popular crossword word.  They look like blue berries.


45. "Fill 'er up" fluid: GAS.

48. Michelle Obama __ Robinson: NÉE.  Before she married Barack Obama (b. Aug. 4, 1961) in October, 1992, she was known as Michelle LaVaught Robinson (b. Jan. 17, 1964).


49. Turn on the waterworks: SOB.  I initially tried Cry.

50. Charged particle: ION.  Ions appear with some regularity in the crossword puzzles.



51. Defeat cunningly: OUTFOX.

53. Flat renter: TENANT.  I initially tried Leasee then I tried Renter, before finally settling on Tenant.

59. State with a greeting in its name: OHIO.  //  A shortened version of 4-Down: Word of greeting: HELLO!

60. Apple pie-making tool: CORER.


61. Hoops officials: REFs.  As in Referees.  The ref is in the stripped shirt.


64. Lady's man: LORD.  You, too, can become a Lord or Lady.

65. Egg producer: OVARY.

66. Bridal accessory: VEIL.  Bridal veils can be of varying lengths, as shown below.


67. Approximately: OR SO.

68. Word after user or stage: NAME.  As in User Name or Stage Name.

69. Provocative, as humor: EDGY.

Down:

2. Versatile blackjack card: ACE.
3. Culinary topper: CHEF'S HAT.  The usual crossword answer to a clue like this is Toque.

5. Stove fuel: WOOD.

6. In it for the long __: HAUL.

7. Play opening: ACT I.

8. One blamed for losing a game: THE GOAT.  But GOAT also means Greatest OAll Time.


9. Unchangeable leopard markings, in Jeremiah: SPOTS.  The Biblical phrase can be found in Jeremiah 13:23.

10. IRS-conducted ordeals: AUDITS.

11. Small piano: SPINET.  Here are some sizes and names of keyboard instruments.


12. Irritably needing food: HANGRY.  Hangry is a portmanteau of Hungry and Angry.  There is a physiological reason for this condition.

14. Bing who teamed with Hope in "Road to ..." films: CROSBY.  Bing Crosby (né Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr.; May 3, 1903 ~ Oct. 14, 1977), Bob Hope (né May 29, 1903 ~ July 18, 2003), and Dorothy Lamour (née Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; Dec. 10, 1914 ~ Sept. 22, 1996) made several "Road to ..." movies that were adventurous, comedic, romantic and musical.


20. Like much lore: ORAL.

21. Pre-release buzz: HYPE.  There was a lot of Hype before the release of the last Star Wars movie.

22. Enjoy an e-cig: VAPE.  This is becoming a crossword staple.

23. Very cool rapper?: ICE T.  Ice T (né Tracy Lauren Marrow; b. Feb. 16, 1958) is also an actor.  He portrayed Detective Odafin Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.


27. Extremely muscular, in modern parlance: SWOLE.  I am not familiar with this word.  It is derived from the word "swollen", but also describes an extremely muscular physique.


28. Annoys: MIFFS.

31. Massage: RUB.

32. Owl's sound: HOO.  Hand up if your owl said "Who!"

33. Mattress problem: SAG.


37. Smoothie additive also used to sprout "hair" on terracotta "pets": CHIA SEED.

38. Lots and lots: A TON.

39. "__ it obvious?": ISN'T.

41. Playing an extra NBA period: IN OT.  As in In Over Time.

42. Dictionary: LEXICON.  John McWhorter (b. Oct. 6, 1965) is a professor at Columbia University where he teaches English and linguistics.  He also hosts a podcast called Lexicon Valley, which provides fascinating lectures on language etymology.

43. Traffic circle: ROTARY.  These circular traffic intersections go by many names.  We called them roundabouts.  They are supposed to ease the flow of traffic, but sometime it can be difficult to exit if there are too many exit options.


44. "Su-u-ure": I BET!

45. Split with the band, maybe: GO SOLO.  Members of the Beatles began to go solo near the end of the band's run.

46. Novelist, e.g.: AUTHOR.

47. Alternative to a crowded elevator: STAIRS.  I worked on the 7th floor of a 7-story building.  I would usually take the stairs because it was good exercise.

52. Hobbit on a quest: FRODO.  A reference to Frodo Baggins.  I never understood the appeal to the Hobbits.

54. Optic __: NERVE.

56. Starburst?: NOVA.

57. Ma's ma: GRAM.  My maternal grandmother went by Nana.

58. Roberts' "Pretty Woman" co-star: GERE.  Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy about a "working girl", played by Julia Roberts (b. Oct. 28, 1967), and a wealthy businessman, played by Richard Gere (b. Aug. 31, 1949).


62. Newton fruit: FIG.  Fun Facts about the Fig Newton.


63. Sneaky: SLY.

Here's the Grid:

QOD:  It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.  ~  Bill Gates (b. Oct. 28, 1955)

56 comments:

LEO III said...

No real problems. Also wanted CRY before SOB. Didn't know ACAI, ILET, SWOLE, and don't remember a traffic circle being called a ROTARY (ROUNDABOUT, yes), but I got them. Biggest problem with traffic circles is the people who don't know (care) that the CARS IN THE CIRCLE HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY!!!

Gonna go get some sleep!

OwenKL said...

LIGHTS - WHITES - RIGHTS -- I was seeing a definite pattern, so the reveal on this one caught me entirely by surprise! Excellent theme!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

SWOLE was a learning moment, unusual for a Tuesday. So was Hahtoolah's "the Quar" -- I hadn't heard that before but it's cute and appropriate. The piano I owned wasn't a SPINET. It was a console, bigger than a SPINET and shorter than an upright, and not shown in the illustration. Very nicely done, Evan and Hahtoolah.

Hungry Mother said...

FIR, with no write-overs today. GERE getting around today; is it his Birthday? I was looking at the rhyming of LIGHT, WHITE, and RIGHT for a while as the theme. My owls say “who?”

Anonymous said...

4:34 to finish. Familiar with "swole" and even saw it recently in another crossword puzzle.

Bob Lee said...

Nice easy Tuesday. I only had to change GRAN to GRAM after the initial fills. I liked SWOLE and HANGRY as unusual words.

Re: Owls. I did a citizen science activity a few years ago to identify owls in my area. I had two of the three local types, and here is how to recognize their call patterns:

Great Horned Owl: "Who's awake? Me too!"
Barred Owl: "Who cooks for me? Who cooks for you-all."
[I didn't have any Screech Owls. They sound like a horse whinnying.]

inanehiker said...

The blog today was more entertaining than the puzzle - especially enjoyed the horse race!

These days ROTARY, roundabout, traffic circle have become interchangeable terms - but in transportation planning they are different- with ROTARY being larger and the through traffic not yielding to those in the circle vs. those in the circle having the right-of-way in the roundabout. https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Safety/roundabouts/BasicFacts.htm Our city has added quite a few which are good in places that sometimes have lots of traffic but other times not much - so you don't have a stoplight when it would only be needed a couple of hours a day.

I hadn't known SWOLE - but now that it has been in 2 puzzles in a short time- I might remember it the next time!
It's unfortunate VAPE has become a common word - a huge problem with the teens/twenties - people were really getting away from smoking and now we have this soaring back - it doesn't have the tar and other junk in cigarettes but it still has the nicotine and all the damage and addiction it causes!

Thanks Susan and Evan!

Husker Gary said...

Musing
-A fun puzzle by our post office expert!
-Steve Spurrier famously wore a VISOR and did this when upset. When the Huskers gave him his worst loss ever, he just threw it.
-The MAP shows Nebraskan William Jennings Bryan did not carry his home state in 1900
-My best-ball partner and I tee off in one hour. We’ll shoot par OR SO.
-In the movie Patton, after defeating the SLY Desert Fox, George C. Scott as Patton says, [referring to Rommel's book, 'Infantry Attacks' or 'Infanterie greift an'] “Rommel... you magnificent bastard, ‘I read your book’”!
-Employees at my favorite sporting goods store are forbidden to take the escalator and must use the STAIRS
-Out the door! FORE!

Yellowrocks said...

I, too, was looking at the RIGHT, WHITE, LIGHT pattern.
Good thing I had the U in PUPA to get the A in HANGRY. New to me. Mostly it is babies or toddlers who are fussy or angry when they are hungry.
SWOLE was new to me. That picture is a big turn off, so unnatural. I can't even stand to look at it.
I have not tried acai berries or acai products.
To my taste, those stilettos pictured are ugly. I very seldom wear any dress shoes, except for flats. In the summer, indoors I prefer barefoot.
Abejo, glad your first day of therapy was well tolerated.
We call them traffic circles and those in the circle have the right of way. When the circles are crowded they are hard to enter. The stop lights are on the entry roads, not in the circle.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I, too, was led astray with the rhyming theme words, so the reveal was a major Aha moment. No stumbles and no unknowns but plenty of fun entries: Bah crossing Bach, Oral crossing Pearly Whites, Coach and Refs, Sty and Sly, Ach and Ache, and Map/Route/Gas! My favorite C/A was Lady’s man=Lord. Half a CSO to Misty at Woo!

Thanks and well done, Evan and thanks and kudos to you, too, Hatoolah, for a delightful review and top notch visuals and links. The horse race video was hilarious and I’m still trying to decide which one was more ridiculous looking: the “swole” man or the stiletto heels.

FLN

Abejo, glad you got off to a tolerable start. Also glad you finally got some sleep. 💤

WikWak, that humor is much of what I miss seeing!

Have a great day.

Wilbur Charles said...

In Boston they were (only) called rotaries. The determination that cars "IN" the rotary had right of way came late in the game, circa 1985, after much politicking. I suspect it was the insurance companies pandering to the fu'runners who thought they were in roundabouts (ugh).

We had a simple rule:Don't hit anything. Rule 2: Don't let the other guy know you know #1. Most rotaries had to be converted to traffic light intersections after the idiotic "first in" rule became law*

Rich's law is "No matter how easy an early week Xword, set a trap". Mine was PUPu. Yes, if so the clue would have been __ Platter. Someone said "If it sounds wrong it probably is". I'll bet a millennial invented HANGRY.

I originally had Bilbo and OUTbOX. I had a snobbish aversion to LOTR until my friend assured me "Try it you'll like it". And I loved it. Cover to cover, twice in a row. Memorized some of the poems*.

WC

* The problem was if rotary traffic was continuous incoming backed up a mile. c Clwtr Beach.

** Not necessarily a big party fav but not as bad as trying to talk xword talk.

Tinbeni said...

Hahtoolah: Good job on the write-up.
With all your links, reading it was as much FUN as solving the puzzle.

Cheers!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

FLN - Thanks WikWak for sharing your Dad's WWII experiences. The greatest generation. Marcus Island was in the thick of it at Leyte Gulf.

Solve was successful but I glided by the theme. Thanks Hahtoolah for fleshing that out. SWOLE was a new word. Funny to see PEARL…… and OYSTER in the same puzzle.
ROTARY - NYSDOT is using more ROTARY intersections. Many drivers seem clueless on who has the ROW.

I mentioned before that I had a biopsy from a SPOT on my forehead taken the other day by my Dermo Doc. I was informed it was just a benign small cyst and there is nothing to worry about. I see him again in 6 mos.

OMaxiN said...

Thanks Bob Lee. I guess we have Great Horned Owls.
Who Who Who, Who Who.

FIW. Knew PUPA was correct, but entered HuNGRY anyway.
Saw the unifier. Did not search for the theme entries.

Our state hwy dept has become a big fan of traffic circles (I am not a fan) and diverging diamonds (I am a fan)
MO

desper-otto said...

Had not heard of the diverging diamonds. Thanx, OMaxiN. If it's new to you, too, I found an explanatory video on YouTube.

desper-otto said...

Speaking of "Hoo"...

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Evan and Hahtoolah.
I finished this CW in good time with no inkblots! Plus I smiled when I saw all those GATES.
Wondered if a pangram was coming but we were 4 letters short (Q Z J K).

Hand up for liking BACH crossing BAH (plus we had ACH).
That was a new clue for ACAI, but when the first two letters perped I got it.
Another hand up for wanting WHOO before HOO.
With the first 3 letters in place, I thought the culinary topper might be a CHErry__. This Canadian prefers CHEFSHAT to toque.

A third hand up for wanting Cry before SOB. The waterworks are really turned on! We might need those FLOODGATES.

FLN, Abejo, glad to hear your first chemo and radiation went well.. . and you got some rest.
Spitzboov- glad your results were benign.

Wishing you all a great day.

SwampCat said...

Lots to like in this interesting puzzle. Irish Miss mentioned most of it. I also wanted cry instead of SOB. Thanks Evan. After the SHRIMP yesterday we get OYSTERs today complete with PEARL.

Hahtoolah you were over the top today! Loved the horse race. Those chargrilled OYSTERs look scrumptious! When the quarantine was more complete than it is now but restaurants could have pickup service, I ordered some from Drago’s and we ate them in the church parking lot across the street. The church was closed, and we couldn’t Congregate, but at least we got outside and feasted!

WC, I agree HANGRY sounds like a millennial saying. I know babies and most of us get some degree of angry when we are hungry, but do we really need a word for it? As for HOO, has anyone checked with the owls for their spelling?

Abejo, I hope your treatments continue to be tolerable, and effective.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Fun Tuesday, finished right with no inkovers. *Pat's self on back*..Almost put parer for CORER but waited on the perps.

J. Cæsar once again is cruciverbally disappointed by Brutus.

ACAI NA TIGELA...isnt that an Israeli folksong?

I finally remembered toque is a chefs hat but this time the usual question is the answer. SWOLE...sounds pathologic. Like a muscleman is actually edematous.

Owls don't know HOO says they do.. but don't give a hoot. Speaking of animals. Blame a scapegoat for losing not just any caprine..

Will green hair grow in your stomach if you lace your smoothie with CHIA SEED?

This'll make you hANGRY:

My friend would ______ when manufacture of his favorite foreign car ceased...SAAB.

Put that "Limbo" bar higher I can't ____.... GOSOLO.

Political HYPE depends how you ______ ...SPINET.

Scarey William.....BILLOFRIGHTS.

Actually tomorrow is ODIN's day (Wodin..Wednesday), see you then. Hang in there Abejo

Wilbur Charles said...

Or as the owl said to the African antelope: "Who Gnu"

Lucina said...

Hola!

Thank you, Evan Kalish and Hahtoolah!

I can't say I've ever seen or heard of HANGRY. Is that a millenial expression?

We have some traffic circles in the newer developments. When I visit my brother is when I encounter one. It is a bit unnerving.

Today some interesting books by controversial AUTHORs will be released. I may read them eventually.

My grandchildren call me Nana, never GRAM.

Ray-O, you have an amusing LEXICON!

I know FRODO only from crosswords.

Any movie with Richard GERE is fine with me.

Have a lovely day, everyone!

Misty said...

Well, I loved this Evan Kalish puzzle as I worked on it, but was addled by two weird moments. I knew it should be PUPA but figured HANGRY couldn't be right, it had to be HUNGRY, and so hoped that PUPU might just be another insect word. And SWOLE looked bizarre to me too, but there was no alternative because no way AOF could be a gut punch reaction. So ended up missing a perfect score with just one letter. Not bad, but no WOOHOO from me (thanks, Irish Miss). Thank you anyway, Evan, and always enjoy your comments, Hahtoolah.

My favorite puzzle moment came when I put in ABS and knew right away that Bing would be CROSBY.

Glad all is okay, Abejo and Spitzboov.

Have a good day, everybody.

TTP said...



I'd say my winning streak is over (again), but one in a row isn't exactly a streak.

Didn't read the entire clue at 12D. Just read the "... needing food" part and HuNGRY went in.

I read Hahtoolah's link on HANGRY, and then looked further. It was added as a word to the OED in 2018, along with other words like mansplain and snowflake. The Google definition (Definitions from Oxford Languages) suggests that the word was coined in the 1950's.

"It is only in the 21st century that the word hangry, a blend of hungry and angry used colloquially to mean ‘bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger,’ has entered common use. However, the earliest known evidence for the word dates from 1956, in an unusual article in the psychoanalytic journal American Imago that describes various kinds of deliberate and accidental wordplay,” Head of U.S. Dictionaries, Katherine Connor Martin, explained."

Merriam Webster indicates the first recorded usage was in 1918, but "...didn’t come into greater use until the Internet gave it new life."

Julia Roberts was so fun to watch in Pretty Woman, as was Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny. Two of our favorites that we'll watch over and over again.

Abejo, good that you got through your first treatment and now know what to expect. One step at a time. You'll get through this.

Good news report from you, Spitzboov. Glad it was benign.

Desper-otto, you must have missed this post on Diverging Diamond

It is so much better and safer than the old overpass and interchange that was there. I like it. People that pull off the highway for a few moments with the intention of just crossing the intersection and getting back on, don't. You can't simply cross.

WikWak said...

Who gnu... funny! And I always like to see the GN words (gnu, gnat, etc) in print.

Easy peasy Tuesday. Liked the theme and liked the “Hatoolish” writeup.

D-O, those diamond interchanges are showing up in the Chicago area too. There’s one at IL 59 and I-88 that I go through frequently; it has improved the traffic flow enormously.

Wilbur Charles, I discovered The Hobbit and LOTR when I was in grad school. Went through all 4 books in about a week and a half and when I finished The Return of the King I started all over again. Since then I have reread the set at least once a year. You might say I liked them.

Gotta run. Stay well, all.

WikWak said...

Who gnu... funny! And I always like to see the GN words (gnu, gnat, etc) in print.

Easy peasy Tuesday. Liked the theme and liked the “Hatoolish” writeup.

D-O, those diamond interchanges are showing up in the Chicago area too. There’s one at IL 59 and I-88 that I go through frequently; it has improved the traffic flow enormously.

Wilbur Charles, I discovered The Hobbit and LOTR when I was in grad school. Went through all 4 books in about a week and a half and when I finished The Return of the King I started all over again. Since then I have reread the set at least once a year. You might say I liked them.

Gotta run. Stay well, all.

Malodorous Manatee said...

Liked the reference to PDQ Bach. For some reason I seem to recall "discovering" him as a young lad about the same point in time as Richard Armour and Ogden Nash.

desper-otto said...

TTP, yes, I must've missed that earlier post about the Diverging Diamond. In my defense, that post of yours was in 2015, and I can't even remember what I had for breakfast.

Wilbur and WikWak, I also became acquainted with the Hobbits many years ago. I think it was early '68 while I was on military leave that I read all three LOTR books in about three days. I think Peter Jackson did a masterful job bringing the story to the big screen. His Ring Wraiths were particularly good.

AnonymousPVX said...


This was a nice Tuesday puzzle that filled quickly.

No write-overs today.

And not much to add...I ran a bunch of chores yesterday and have some to finish up today.

Stay safe.

Spitzboov said...

Re: I-88 from the diverging diamond videos:

Did not realize we had 2 I-88's:

Interstate 88 may refer to either of two United States Interstate highways:
Interstate 88 (Illinois), running from Moline to Hillside
Interstate 88 (New York), running from Binghamton to Schenectady

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Scoot over WC, Misty, & OMaxiN - I didn't think PUPU was right either but.... //everybody has a big butt [funny TBBT link D-O]

Apparently HANGRY was inducted into the OED in '18. The word has been around since the '50s but seems more like slang you'd hear on '90's Friends. //and,.... TTP just said that.

Thanks Even for the puzzle that GATE'd me out of a FIR. Thanks Hahtoolah for the expo. OMG! I've not had Oysters since hangin' in the Quarter w/ a dab of Crystal. Oh those looked so good.

WOs: Teeth made me go w/ PEnalty. Geer b/f GERE, GRAn (Hi Bob Lee!)
ESP: N/A //well, HANGRY but we all know how that went...
Fav: LORD's clue was really cute.

I was going to continue a my search for a ROTARY in Cairo [they are CrAzY!], but this one is insane (but apparently runs smoothly).
'Course there's always the other Roundabout [Yes - 8:37]
//I too never heard of diverging diamonds - thanks OMaxiN for piquing the curiosity and D-O for the link. //OK (again!?!) TTP. I didn't recall it from '15 either :-)

WC - LOL "[LOTR - ] Not necessarily a big party fav but not as bad as trying to talk xword talk" DW & BIL (and everyone else) rolls eyes when MIL & I discuss.
Never could (after 3 tries) make it through Two Towers. Too slow and too many names to keep up with.
Thank goodness there was a movie later so I could reclaim my nerd-card.

RayO: BILL O' FRIGHT - cute.

Play later if there's time. Cheers, -T

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling Thoughts:

I, too got thrown off by the light, white, right rhyming trio. Nice diversion for the reveal

I saw HANGRY - cause I was pretty sure it was PUPA, not PUPU ... and after correcting it back to HANGRY, it made me think of this goofy haiku:

Bug appetizer,
Served in its larval stage, is called:
A PUPA platter ...

And a limerick:

FRODO Baggins was recently scarred,
And the news really caught us, off guard.
He expired from infection
After getting an erection.
Guess it’s true that old hobbits die hard.

Anonymous T said...

I can just hear some of the guys at The Corner (and PK?) ...
"Who's Crystal and did your wife know?"
Yes, my modifier was danglin' //wait....
Crystal hot sauce on OYSTERs.

Have a great afternoon! -T

Picard said...

Thank you all for noticing the EVICTS CSO yesterday and thank you all for the good wishes. We are up to our eyeballs with packing 31 years of stuff. Today we started to look at some places. Not a lot of options and extra challenges to see places due to COVID.

Abejo sorry you have to endure all of these treatments. I do hope they are effective for a full recovery.

Happy with the recent puzzles and all FIR.

Yesterday had "Abandons all hope" as a clue. We are trying not to DESPAIR.

MIT had the slogan from Dante: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." I seem to remember that someone had made a fake graphic of this engraved in marble at the main entrance. But I can't seem to find it now.

Irish Miss what type of music do you listen to? I am referring to your comment Sunday about HOTEL CALIFORNIA.

TTP said...

Spitzboov, thanks. I did not know that.



OK, I get it. You guys don't recall it because my posts are boring and you never open my links. See if I ever link anything again !!!

This morning I watched a documentary on Sir George Martin entitled, "Produced by George Martin." It's available free to Amazon Prime members if interested.

Audio at the end of the documentary struck me as funny.

desper-otto said...

TTP, I guess your comment about never linking again was a hollow threat. :)

TTP said...


Or a broken promise...


Just one side of my sense of humor. :>)

BTW, I thought you and dash T in particular might like that documentary. It was on AXS this morning.

The amazon link is Produced by George Martin

Didn't know he was a comedy record producer before The Beatles. Dash T, there's a short bit in there with Michael Palin.

I knew he was the producer of The Beatles, but didn't know about the other artists. Among others, do you remember this song ? Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas - Bad To Me

Malodorous Manatee said...

desper-otto, your LOTR history was very similar to mine. Weird.

I was out sick from high school, with a reasonably high fever, in 1968 (senior year). I read a book a day for three days. It was my first hallucinatory experience.

oc4beach said...


Good puzzle today. Hahtoolah added a lot in her explanation of the grid. Loved her visuals. I didn't get the theme until it was 'splained.

Today I put in SOB just like I did the other day and it was right this time.

TIARA didn't fit, so SASH was my second choice.

Not sure about Rotaries, roundabouts or traffic circles. I don't like any of them. I think they are just accidents waiting to happen.

I started with PUPA then PUPU and finally back to PUPA. I didn't know HANGRY but it did make sense.

I also went with TENANT even though I thought there might be some Brit Slang for it that I didn't know.

We're starting to pick up speed in July. The first week is up and we're motoring into the second one. Boy, time sure flies (not) when you're in quarantine.

Be safe everyone, and wear your masks.

Irish Miss said...

Spitz @ 9:36 ~ Glad to hear of your good report.


Picard @ 2:04 ~ My musical tastes include opera, classical, show tunes, and the old-timers, such as Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, John Gary, Tony Bennett, etc.

Hungry Mother said...

I saw some gnus on safari in South Africa, but my favorite is Richard Stallman’s recursive acronym for his operating system Gnu’s Not Unix.

desper-otto said...

I'm trying to picture those gnus on safari...

CrossEyedDave said...

Starting Gate?
My experience...

Re: Diverging Diamonds...
Ok,
Sounds good,
but,
what if you are on the eastbound service road,
and want to get on the highway eastbound?
(see image in the Blog for reference...)

It is things like this,
that made New Jersey Jughandles Famous
for the quote
"You Can't get there from here...."

CrossEyedDave said...

Been there, done that...

Oh, & for the ladies...

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and liked Hahtoolah's expo even more. Somehow I didn't see the HOO clue or answer; even if I fill an answer solely from perps I like to go back and read the clues anyway, but I missed that one. It made my nose wrinkle even post facto.

Hand up for CRY before SOB and LESSEE before TENANT. Also hand up for staring at HANGRY for a while before capitulating to it. SWOLE? Ugly word, ugly physical condition.

Do you think IVLIVS CÆSAR actually ever said "Et tu, Brute?" or did Shakespeare make it up?

There was a traffic circle (or whatever they call it there) in Santa Barbara that I encountered when leaving town to get back onto Highway 101 north. I didn't know the right-of-way rules so, guess what, I stopped to let someone in. Now I know why I was getting honked at!

Yeah, I read Lord of the Rings, after having read and enjoyed The Hobbit. And yeah, "The Two Towers" was a boring slog which almost inhibited me from reading the rest. I was struck by how both stories started out with a Hobbit being arm-twisted into going on a quest to save mankind, by how both stories included an episode of being caught by a spider, both were a story of an epic journey through spooky forests and encountering numerous other species and civilizations, with the objective of destroying an evil and seemingly invincible enemy, and ending with a triumphant "return."

I'm glad you both had good news, Spitzboov and Abejo.

Good wishes to you all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Jayce ~ I believe Shakespeare wrote ALL the good stuff uttered by his kings and queens--and dictators.
The princely set certainly wishes they could be as eloquent as our greatest poet.
I can just imagine what it must be like in the dialogue between young royals and their history tutors whenever they come across a bit like "Once more unto the breech" or "For God's sake, let's sit on the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings..."
The little cusses must stare at their teachers and sigh, "If only...."
~ OMK

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Evan Kalish, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Hahtoolah, for a fine review.

Couldn't sleep last night, so I got up and did the puzzle. It went well. Liked it. That was about 1:00 AM. Then I was a little tired, so I laid down.

Theme worked out. Clever.

Our favorite latin, ET TU. OK with me.

Took me a while to get HANGRY, but I did it.

Tried CHIA FEED before CHIA SEED worked better.

My Radiation treatment went better today after I asked them to play some John Phillip Sousa marches while I was in the doughnut. That really made the difference. Plus I asked them to give me a minute by minute countdown as the treatment progressed. That helped a lot, as well. I think I found the secret. We will see how it goes tomorrow. Thank you all for rooting for me. I appreciate that.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Anonymous T said...

TTP - Totes (Millennial slang :-)) gonna check out that documentary. I love the history of Rock & Roll / Blues (and comedy).
LOL at that tape.

Abejo- Good to hear you (quickly!) figured out a manageable system. Keep on Rockin'

Jayce - thank you! -- Nice to know I'm not the only one thinkin' Two Towers was...um, bleh.

CED - Keep 'em com'in'. Fun stuff!

C.Moe - always fun to see you and #2... LOL.

hAngry Mother - GNUWin32 is what makes Windows tolerable/useful. Years ago I created a 'workenv.bat' to auto load everything proper for max productivity - little .bat re-paths everything (important) to /bin/gnu32/ and ls -la |more works like it's supposed to.
You an EFF member too?

Cheers, -T

Ol' Man Keith said...

Enjoyed the horse race video!
A bit political, perhaps, but I guess it depends on how you read the state of our national pandemic....

I never heard a traffic circle called a ROTARY. It was in England that I first heard ROUNDABOUT--from someone giving me directions.
"Ya jist 'op on down ta the first ROUNDABOUT."
(Ta the WHA'?!)
~ OMK
____________
DR:
WooHoo! An abundance of diagonals today.
Six of 'em! I can't remember the last time we had so many, a 3-way on the right, and another on the left!
The main anagram on the near side is of "a leftover steak," or a...
"BEEFY RELIC"!
-and-
Borrowing an extra"o" from the front end, we have a far side anagram of "a shady technicality," a...
"HOODY LOOPHOLE"!

CrossEyedDave said...

GAndolf quotes:

It Is The Small Things, Everyday Deeds Of Ordinary Folk That Keeps The Darkness At Bay. Simple Acts Of Love And Kindness...

ANd for Anon-T
The latest Gnus...

TXMs said...

Thanks, Hahtoolah, for the great commentary, as others have said. My fav: the horse race - all of us need humor these days. Five-yr-old internet video of cockatoo rockin' on out to Elvis' Don't be Cruel. His chair-mate was visibly indignant.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hsimp=yhs-att_001&hspart=att&p=cockatoo+dancing+to+Don%27t+be+Cruel#action=view&id=2&vid=0a23787a8efbc67667d72c4f80db19d3

The Goat got me - a GOAT (sports-speak) would never cause a loss, but just left it in.

Anon-T: Grilled oysters? You gotta try Gilhooley's Oyster Bar (warning: not upscale dining) in the San Leon/Dickinson area. My favorite there was Oysters Gilhooley - grilled on the half-shell with garlic butter and parmesan. When I went there years ago, it was a true waterfront dive/bar, but after it burned down they relocated.

Abejo, good creative tweaking while enduring the treatments - hoping tomorrow is even easier!

Yellowrocks said...

"So, goats are deep in our cultural memory, no matter out of which part of the world our ancestors sprang. Somewhere in the dim past of American sportswriting, though, the goat became something different. A goat was an athlete who failed, garishly, hilariously, and at the worst possible time." Sports Illustrated 7/23/2018

Hahtoolah, thanks for the horse race. Gave me good laugh.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Evan! Great expo, Hahtoolah! Thanks.

Back when I was living in a county that didn't even have four-lane highways, I flew to PA & rented a car to take my teenaged daughter, who wanted to see the ocean, to the Jersey Shore. There we ran into the first ROTARY, I ever experienced, with several lanes. You had to be in the proper lane to get off. There was a lot of traffic late in the day. I can't remember how many times I went around and around and around before I succeeded in exiting: more than three but probably less than 12-15 times. The teenager was not kind about it.

HANGRY gave me pause. I had PUPA, which I didn't like, so I tried a "u" which turned red. I admit I get HANGRY, or at least cranky with hunger.

SWOLE and our recently seen WOKE are the type of new language that annoy me. I like language which communicates not mystifies.

Abejo: glad you got some control by speaking up on your treatment.

Tony: I did, indeed, stop and go "what?" on the crystal comment. But I thot you meant salt crystals.

TXMs said...

Anon-T (chiming in with PK): Crystal didn't give me pause, I just assumed it was a local beer. Oysters and beer go together for sure!

Anonymous T said...

PK - LOL!
TxMs - Gilhooley's Oyster Bar is a bit of a hike (1h2m) but I've bookmarked it.

Fun DRs OMK!

CED - I grew up on The Muppet Show, so I GNU of the Brit Chap. :-) Thanks.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Side-link clicker say...

There was another Diverging Diamond video waiting for me. My takeaway? They have a Braum's in Springfield, MO?!?
//I have to go about 25min North of Dallas b/f hitting one. A Fav spot for DW & me in Norman, Oklahoma.

-T

Wilbur Charles said...

I had this and fell asleep before posting. Instead of throwing it away here it is

In Boston there was an intersection downtown where one literally came to an intersection where left, forward, right were all one way against.
But….
On the left was an alley* to escape from else like Charlie you'd be stranded.
Picard were you there when MIT guys planted a timed apparatus at Harvard Stadium (ok Soldiers Field) that arose from the ground in the middle of the Tale game? On the 50yd line.

Strange I thought "Two Towers" was the best of the three. I loved the "Dirge of Boromir", the Hobbit-Ent badinage, the ruckus at Helms Deep etc". Perhaps the Frodo side did slog a bit. A lot of tension. Btw, in the Merovingian Court there was a character much like Grima Worm-tongue. Also, I read LOTR then later "The Hobbit" so the similar elements didn't hit me.

But, I loved when Frodo had just held off Shelob with Galadriel's "Light" when he basically says "Thanks, but I'll take it from here". Sam bailed him out.

One of the trademarks of Redsox fandom was villefying the scapegoat -c Bill Buckner.

WC